Always Listening
by Izikiel Black
Summary: Big sisters are the last line of defense. They are the apex predators of Rapture. But what if they weren't? What happens when a certain one (or two?) discovers feelings for the one that is? Rated T for language and violence. I readily accept constructive criticism, but will most likely delete it from the reviews (it's a personal thing). [[Currently under reconstruction]]
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter I**

You've met the family already, haven't you? No? Consider yourself lucky.

Splicers. Citizens who are so genetically twisted, they've been driven to insanity from the sheer extent of their ADAM addiction. How do they get it?

Little sisters. Someone had the bright idea to graft an ADAM slug into the stomach of a little girl. Naturally, they get attacked pretty often on their many excursions throughout Rapture, so how are they protected?

Big daddies. Hulking monstrosities created by grafting physically and genetically modified humans into massive diving suits. Occasionally, they do get killed and their little sisters kidnapped, which begs the question: what happens then?

Big sister. She is the warden of Rapture. She is death incarnate, the only thing standing between Rapture and the world. She is the apex predator of Rapture, the only one the splicers are truly afraid of. At least, she was.

Then I happened.

Oh, don't get me wrong, being the warden of rapture does have its perks. Complete submission, absolute authority, everyone being terrified of you. Yes, the Big Sisters of Rapture used to be at the top of the food chain.

But that was before I was turned into a big brother. That was before I was ripped away from my family, before I was cut up and sewn back together. Before I forgot how to love and learned how to hate.

Miss Lamb is right in saying that Big Sister is always watching. I know because they tell me _everything_. Every time a little one gets killed, I hear about it. If a big daddy goes rogue, I choose the sister who has to take him out. Big Sister is always watching, but Big Brother is always listening.

I am the first and last of my kind. I am the new warden of Rapture. I am Brother Alpha, and I am infinitely dangerous.

I walked through the streets of Pauper's Drop, hands clasped behind my back, following the sound of fighting. As I neared its source, I saw a flaming table burst through a set of double doors. I walked through the frame into a cavernous room filled with struggling forms.

A group of splicers was fighting a big sister gone rogue. I saw her only as a blur leaping from one splicer to the next in a dizzying display of pure death. One of them- a thuggish splicer- ran for me.

I didn't move an inch.

It jumped, raising its wrench to strike my helmet.

I just watched.

An inch before it made contact, it stopped. The splicer looked confused as to why I wasn't dead yet. I used my telekinesis to hold it in front of me as I watched its eyes widen in fear. I stared into its face, my porthole a smooth yellow. It screamed as I crushed it, letting its lifeless body fall to the floor. I stepped over it, and the fighting stopped.

Two leadheads lowered their tommy guns, a brute dropped the piece of rubble it was holding, and three spiders shrunk back in fear. I slowly moved my head around the room, gazing into six pairs of fearful eyes before finally finding my prey.

Across the room, perched on a desk, was the rogue sister. Without moving, I unclasped my hands and held my right one out towards the door. The splicers left hurriedly, casting worried glances at me over their shoulders. As the last one fled the room, my gaze once again fell upon the sister. For a long moment, the only sound I could hear was the faint dripping of a leak in the building's glass. Then, My porthole flared a blood red and the sister lunged.

I dodged to the left, twisting to avoid her needle. She landed gracefully and slashed at me again. I stepped back farther, leading her towards me. With each successive slash, she was lured closer and closer until, finally, her leg rested in a pool of water. This time I grabbed her arm, halting the needle in its path to my chest. I released a sharp jolt of electricity, a harsh blue glow enveloping her form. I kicked her in the stomach, throwing her backwards. I approached her twitching form cautiously.

She suddenly lunged, her needle piercing through my suit and shredding through my thigh. I yelled and unleashed a stream of lightning aimed straight for her heart. She screamed, convulsing wildly in the floor. I stopped long enough to pull my leg off the needle before I grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air. I was slammed into the wall by a desk that she had pulled towards me. I fell to my knees, ears ringing. I clenched my hand into a fist, building up energy. When she lunged at me a second time, I released a huge fireball that blasted her backwards and left her suit burned in several places. I stood shakily and walked toward her. I looked down at her damaged body, chuckling to myself. I extended my needle and shoved it through her stomach, straight through the ADAM slug that lived inside her.

Her body jerked up, curling around the needle buried in her. I started draining her ADAM, my suit piping it to a small canister on my back. Her struggles steadily got weaker and weaker as her body ran out of the precious fuel that had kept her alive for the past ten years.

When she finally lay dead at my feet, I pulled a small metal plate from the back of her gloved hand. Engraved on it was a small symbol.

_Sister Zeta. The defects are moving up the food chain._

Hoisting her corpse over my shoulder, I teleported back to Persephone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II**

I was in Miss Lamb's office giving a report of my mission. She sat at her great mahogany desk, Zeta's metal plate resting on its surface.

"Were you able to recover the stolen ADAM?" SHe asked, examining the plate.

I nodded, releasing the holding tank on my back and placing it alongside the emblem. "_**I don't understand, though-"**_

"Oh, do shut up." She cut me off. "Your job isn't to understand. Your job is to follow orders. And take off that God-forsaken mask." I did as I was told and released the mechanism holding my mask together. Depressurizing steam hissed out the sides and my mask contracted back into its reduced shape, leaving my face unobstructed.

"As it so happens," she began, "I have another assignment for you. Two little ones went missing from Pauper's Drop this morning. I want you to go there and investigate. Take a sister if you need one."

I laughed a dry, derisive chuckle. "There's nothing in this place that can surprise me anymore." My voice sounded scratchy, hoarse from disuse. I cleared my throat. "I'll take care of it on my own."

"See to it that you do." she said. "You are dismissed."

Sister Rho shoved a small needle through an EVE port in the hand of my suit. The plastic tubing coming out of the needle filled with a radiant blue liquid as she secured the needle. My EVE slowly ran from my hand, through the tubing, and into a small canister used for filling injection needles.

I hated doing this, filling these canisters with my precious EVE, but without it, the sisters would all go insane. Miss Lamb disliked dealing with them in that state, so I came here every week, filling tube after tube with my cleansing EVE.

My EVE is required to stabilize the ADAM overload experienced by the sisters. When they reach a certain age, all the ADAM they've ingested starts corrupting their minds. Rapture's best scientists were hired to discover a way to reverse the process, which is why I was originally created. Rapture needed a way to keep the big sisters in check, in more ways than one. I was the ultimate solution.

When Rho came to unhook the needle, another sister came in. This one was fairly young, judging by her suit, which was covered with blood. She flopped down onto a medical bed.

_**Seven of them!"**_ she said. "_**Seven splicers! Leadheads, every single one of them! They fucking ambushed me! I think one of them got me in the shoulder. Can you take a look?"**_ Rho was frozen, stuck looking at the needle now halfway out of my hand. The other sister looked over and froze.

I was impressed. Taking down seven leadheads isn't anything to sneeze at, especially considering her shoulder injury.

I asked her, "_**What is your signature?"**_

"_**S-Sister Kappa, sir,"**_ she answered shakily. I smiled beneath my mask. Making the sisters squirm was an abject pleasure of mine, especially those that consider themselves high on the food chain.

"_**Sister Kappa. You are 16 years old. Am I correct?" **_She nodded. "_**You have been sister for approximately one year. Am I correct?"**_ Another nod. "_**So with one full year of experience, you were barely able to kill a small group of splicers armed with nothing but guns. Am I correct?"**_ She nodded once more.

I stood and gave her a patronizing look before walking out the door. I would have to talk to Miss Lamb about this very soon.

I walked through the halls of Pauper's Drop, passing the room where I had killed sister Zeta. I sneered as I went past it, remembering the way she vainly struggled in her last moments. That was always my favorite part about hunting rogue sisters; their final struggle. It was always useless, and always amusing.

I entered the train station, searching for my target. The train was still there so I knew that they hadn't left yet, but I didn't see them anywhere. Just as I was about to leave and search another area, I heard movement behind me. I turned just in time to see what appeared to be an rogue daddy slam his fist into my chest with the force of a freight train. The massive blow had hit me right where the EVE slug inside me was grafted into my heart. It had caused the slug to contract, squeezing my heart and making pain shoot through my chest.

I painfully stood, extending my extraction needle. The daddy grabbed his drill and revved it, wasting no time in dashing towards me. I tried to sidestep him, but just as I went to move, electricity sparked from his left hand and tore through me. His drill slammed into my stomach, sending me spinning into the train car behind me. The side crumpled, leaving me in a crater of twisted metal. He stood there looking down at me, a rivet gun now clutched in his right hand. he took aim at my head, but just then, I felt the slug release its death grip on my heart. My face split into a wicked grin, and I let loose a piercing screech. _Now, let's have some fun._

I disappeared in a cloud of red smoke, appearing behind him. As he turned, fire erupted from my right hand, engulfing him in a torrent of white-hot flames. Then, suddenly, frost started coming out of _his_ hand, meeting my fire in a cloud of steam. My eyes widened. _A daddy with not one plasmid, but two?_ I broke off the attack and dove to the side, evading his stream of ice. Electricity flew out of my left hand, striking the daddy in the chest. _Two can play at that game._ He fell to his knees, convulsing as I kept the stream on him. I walked up to him and kicked him in the stomach. Something on his hand caught my attention, so I leaned closer to inspect it.

_Subject Delta? Didn't he die a few years ago?_ I reached out and ripped the metal plate off of his glove. _Apparently not. _As I drew my arm back for the final blow, I felt something on my leg. I looked down and saw that Delta's hand was wrapped around my ankle, which happened to be in an ankle-deep puddle of water. The last thing I remember is a harsh blue glow surging through delta's arm before everything went black.

"Is it dead?"

"What could have killed it?"

"Do you think it has any ADAM in it?"

The voices were coming from above me, and as I opened my eyes, I saw why; I was laying on the floor with three leadheads gathered around me. My porthole glowed a hostile red and they all jumped back screaming.

"Oh Shit! It's awake!" One of them screamed, raising his gun.

Jumping to my feet, I flicked my wrist and froze him solid. Turning to the next two, I used telekinesis to lift one up and pull him onto my now extended needle. as I drained the EVE from his still-twitching form, I channeled that into a stream of fire that I used to fry the third splicer, charring him into a black, smoking husk. I dropped the splicer and turned to the swiftly melting ledhead to my left. I placed my hand on the block of ice, sending cracks through it before shattering it, sending the splicer to his knees. I lifted him with my mind and looked him in the eye as I said, "_**Where is the alpha series?"**_

He just struggled and screamed, flailing his arms about as much as my telekinetic grasp would let him. I tightened my grip and boomed out "_**SILENCE!" **_He immediately stopped and looked at me fearfully, eyes brimming with tears. "_**Where is the alpha series that was here?" **_I asked in a lower tone, though the steel in my voice told him _just_ what I would do if he didn't answer.

"I-I don't kn-know, honest!" he said, trembling in fear. I sneered, realizing he was telling the truth. I snapped his neck, dropping his corpse to the blood-soaked floor.

Sighing, I slowly and painfully made my way back to Miss Lamb's office.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter III**

**"Come on, Mister B!"**

_My voice rang through the halls, echoing off the soaring arches and towering pillars. I rounded the corner, bare feet skidding slightly on the grimy floor, and saw the telltale sign that an Angel was nearby; a trail of rose petals._ **"Look, Daddy! It's an Angel!"** _I tugged on his hand, pulling him along with me. He grunted, allowing himself to be led down the winding hallways. Then, I saw it; hands folded, head tilted, neck bared and ready for my needle to plunge into its ADAM rich body. I knelt down quickly, pulling out my needle. A wide grin split my face as I prepared to begin. I shoved the needle deep into the Angel's body, welcoming the wet squelch that accompanied the action. As I extracted the needle, the ground shook and my hulking guardian bellowed out a menacing warning. I looked up just in time to see a massive shoulder slam into him. I cried out to him as he clanged against the wall and crumpled to the floor, momentarily stunned. The massive splicer laughed dumbly, waving someone forward._

_While I looked on in terror, a strange man in an odd looking medical coat walked towards my daddy, holding a green, glowing orb. His mouth was hidden by a surgical mask, but I could tell his face was split into a wide, menacing grin. Daddy struggled to stand, still momentarily stunned by the blow he had been dealt, and the man gave him a patronizing glare. The orb pulsed in his hands before he threw it, landing it squarely in the middle of Daddy's chest where it flattened and slowly sank into his suit. Suddenly, he went still. Panic filled me and I heard the strange man say something to Daddy. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but it sounded like he was talking about… I gasped. They were talking about me!_

_He turned towards me, raising his drill._ **"Daddy? What are you doing?" **_I asked, terror rooting me to the spot. He took a step towards me, portholes unifying into a menacing red glare._ **"I-I promise I'll be good,"** _I whimpered, desperation clear in my voice. He took another arduous step forward and roared._

_The drill came down._

"**DADDY!" **_I screamed, raising my hands up to shield my face. I waited for the drill, waited for it to slam into me, but when several moments passed and nothing happened, I peeked through my arms to see his drill suspended mid-swing a bare inch from my helmet lights flickered sporadically, jumping from red to green in rapid, dizzying succession before finally going dark. His unmoving, lifeless body fell to the ground with a loud clanging of metal screeching against metal. I knelt down beside his metal clad form, tears flowing uncontrollably._

I bolted upright, blankets flying off of me. My heart pounded inside my chest as I struggled in vain to control my breathing. _It was just a dream_, I thought_. Just another memory. _I shivered, recalling my previous excursions into the recesses of my subconscious.

After allowing myself to calm down, I stretched, shook off my sleepiness, and slipped out of bed. Noticing that the others were starting to wake up as well, I moved quickly to my hook on the wall, took my diving suit off of it, and began the habitual actions of buckling myself into it. I reached for my gloves, running my thumb over the small, luminescent _eta_ symbol on my left hand. I had worked hard for that tiny engraving; it took me all of three years to gain enough prestige to advance to the rank of the seventh elite sister.

Just as I was about to leave to patrol my quadrant, the small navlink in my helmet buzzed. Checking the relay, I saw a transmission saying that I was scheduled for an EVE injection in the Administrative Offices. _That's strange,_ I thought, looking towards a schedule on the wall. _I just had one yesterday._ After some deliberation, I decided to just not question it. That's just how things work in The Family. You don't ask questions, because if you do, Big Brother will hear you.

Big Brother is always listening.

At least, that's what Miss Lamb always told us. Only one of us had ever actually seen the praetor of Rapture. That was sister Alpha, but she hardly ever talked about the experience, save to say that it was both humbling and horrifying.

I started on the short walk to the Admin Offices, but before I could leave, I felt something grab onto my arm. I quickly turned only to find sister Chi staring back up at me.

"_**Where are you going?"**_ Chi asked quietly. I smiled. Chi was the closest thing I had to a family. She and I had grown up together, had known each other since we were small. I worried about her sometimes. She was kind of small, and almost always sick.

"_**Don't worry,"**_ I said softly. "_**I'm just going for an injection."**_

She mumbled something incoherent before falling back into a deep slumber.

My first clue that something was wrong was that the relay had specified that I go to Miss Lamb's office for the injection. They were normally done in the medical ward, so it was strange that She'd want it there.

Her offices were in the Administrative Quadrant, so naturally it was the most well kept. As a result, it was forbidden to teleport in that specific section of Persephone, as teleportation tends to leave residue.

After arriving at the door leading to the main admin office, I started to walk through, but I hesitated. I sniffed the air. _I don't smell any ADAM, so the injection's not being administered by a sister. That's strange,_ I thought. _It's almost always Tau._ Cautiously, I walked in. I was right; there was no sister. Instead, the great oak desk dominating the center of the room held none other than Miss Sophia Lamb herself.

She looked up from where she sat, poised and proper, and beckoned me closer. I hurriedly complied.

"Remove your helmet." Her voice was strong and clear, tinged with an accent that was foreign to many, but teemed with prestige. "We have much to discuss."

Doing as she said, I timidly said, _**"I-I thought I was getting another injection…"**_ She fixed upon me a cold, calculating look, her face unreadable. Under her imposing glare, I shrank back slightly.

"Yes, you were." She spoke slowly, as though speaking to a child. "That, however, was merely a ruse to ensure that you were not followed here. You weren't followed, were you?" She asked, giving me a condescending look. Thinking back to my brief conversation with Chi, I quickly shook my head. "Good," She said, relaxing slightly. "It is of the utmost importance that what I am about to share with you does not become common knowledge." She gave me a meaningful look. "We don't want to cause an uproar." I nodded but remained silent.

"Yesterday, two little sisters were found to be missing from the infirmary," she stated. My eyes widened in concern upon hearing the news. In Rapture, 'missing' usually translated to 'dead'. "I am putting you in charge of finding them. I hope you know what that entails." I nodded once more.

Procedure was simple: find the girls, recover any stolen ADAM, and kill anyone who tried to stop us, including and especially those responsible for the crime.

She gave me a dismissive look before returning her attention to the papers on her desk; I took that as my cue to leave. Standing up, I locked my helmet on to my suit. Just as I was stepping through the door, she said, "Do not fail me. I'm sure I don't need to explain the consequences of that." A shiver ran down my spine and I nodded one final time before exiting the room, closing the door behind me.

As the sister left, I sighed heavily and rested my head on my desk. Eta had been chosen for the Lancer Protocol by none other than the Scion of Rapture himself. I shivered slightly. The sisters were under my thumb, and most of them were too terrified to even look me in the eye. But him… He was volatile, a loose canon. I wasn't afraid of a single one of the dozens of twisted abominations that Rapture had to offer, but he was one that just got under my skin. He was still loyal to a fault, of course, but he remained the one person in this God-forsaken city that could take me down.

May God have mercy on me if he ever realizes it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter IV**

I walked into the small room all the sisters shared and was met with absolute silence. Every eye in the room was trained on me, fear and pity in every one of them.

"What's the deal, guys?" I asked after taking off my mask. I looked at Chi, hoping she'd give me some hint as to what was going on. She stared back, wide-eyed, before pointing to the message screen.

The screen was reserved for messages- mostly orders- from Big Brother himself. Usually, they were missions to go on, things he needed us to take care of, missions that were usually reserved for our top two sisters, Alpha and Beta. They always went as a unit and returned the same way.

This time, it was my name on the board. Big Brother wanted me to meet him in Pauper's Drop.

Alone.

My knees almost buckled. Meeting Him alone almost always meant certain death for a lone sister. I thought back to why he would want me gone. I remembered the incident in the infirmary. Chills ran down my spine as I looked at the sisters around me. One by one, they all averted their eyes.

Except Beta.

Sister Beta was in charge of training the new sisters. Since the time of my first injection, she'd been the one who always had my back, always supported me, no matter what happened. This time, however, she just gave me sad look before turning away.

My knees finally buckled and I started to cry.

Roughly an hour later, I stood by the decrepit train station in Pauper's Drop, awaiting my meeting with death. The air was cold, chilling me even through my suit. I created a small ball of flame in my hand to warm me up.

"_**The legendary sister Eta. Wasting my precious EVE because she's cold."**_

I jumped and extinguished the fire. Big Brother had appeared behind me out of nowhere. I turned to face him, shaking inside my suit. I bowed. "_**At your service,"**_ I said, hoping to stave off the inevitable.

A crushing pain spread through my head and I flew onto my back. He had shoved his knee into my visor, throwing me backwards.

"_**You are weak."**_ he said, walking towards me. "_**Pathetic." **_His voice was cold, calculating.

Emotionless.

He used telekinesis to lift me into the air, holding me in front of him.

I struggled, trying to get free, to reason with him, to do _something._ Then I went limp. _This is it,_ I thought. _This is where I die._ I gave up, waiting for death.

He walked closer. I could see my helmet's yellow glow reflected in the shiny chrome of his face plate, so alien compared to ours. "_**I expected more,"**_ he stated simply, matter-of-factly. As though I didn't matter.

That was when I broke.

That was when I got mad.

That was when I fought back.

With every ounce of strength I had, I wrenched free of his hold and punched him in the face as hard as I could. He staggered back, making a surprised noise. I pressed my advantage, extending my needle and aiming it straight for his stomach, right where his slug would be.

He maneuvered out of my way, twisting so that he was facing me. I rolled away from him, hoping to get out of his reach. His extended needle just barely missed my back, grazing the metal and leaving a long scratch across it. I jumped to my feet only to see him running at me. I disappeared, rematerializing above him. I dropped towards him, hoping to catch him by surprise. But I forgot how often he fought us. I forgot that this was probably the first move any sister had ever tried on him.

It was probably their last.

He spun on his heel, brought his hands together, and launched the largest bolt of electricity at me that I've ever seen. It hit me like a truck, making me convulse violently and fall limply to the ground. I looked up to see his hand, opened and extended towards me. I closed my eyes, accepting defeat. Accepting death. _At least the pain will stop,_ I thought. I started to cry, hot tears sliding down my face.

After several moments, I realized that I wasn't dead. I opened my eyes to see his hand still extended.

_**"****Get up****," **_he said. When I didn't comply, he reached down, took my hand, and hauled me onto shaky legs. I held onto his shoulder to keep myself from falling until I saw him looking at my hand, which I quickly pulled back to my side.

"_**You've been chosen,"**_ he said, "_**for a new mission. I had to know how ready you were. I see now that you will suffice. Meet me in the infirmary tomorrow. We will input and test the link then." **_He began to walk away.

"_**What kind of link?"**_ I asked with equal parts confusion and fear.

He stopped and turned his head to look at me. "_**Let's just say that you and I will be working very closely from now on."**_ Then he disappeared, leaving me to make my painful way back home.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: So, four months or so later and I finally start writing again. I'm not going to make excuses, but I did have a good reason for dropping off the face of the Earth. Let's just say that I can understand where Batman's coming from now. Anyhow, here's the next chapter. Honest to (insert deity of your choosing), I'm going to start writing more. Seriously. And remember, Big Brother is always watching.**

**-IzB**

* * *

As I turned to leave, I heard a sneering voice behind me that made everything within me come to a screeching halt. "Who are you to be giving me orders?"

"Who am I?" I asked, my voice deathly calm. "Who am I?" I asked once more, whirling around to face Gamma. "I am the arbiter of Rapture. I am the last line of defense. I am what keeps this shithole from falling to pieces. When you fail, I'm there to clean up the mess." Panicked, she began to back away as I advanced towards her. "I am the one that keeps you sane! I am the one that keeps you in line! You think you have it bad? I had to watch as my entire FAMILY was killed! And for what? So Andrew fucking Ryan could run his experiments! I can't even sleep! I haven't slept in sixteen years! I was killing people before you were even born, and you question me? I could tear you apart!" Her back hit the wall and she was consumed with fear. "As for you? You are nothing but an insolent whelp that needs to learn some humility before I decide to beat it into you. The sooner you learn that, the better."

The air was deathly silent as we left the building.

* * *

Pressurized air hissed out of my mask when I released the clamps holding it in place. I took my mask off and set it on its hook before moving on to the rest of my suit. Sonya, of course, was watching with rapt interest. She threw out the occasional question about my suit, but stayed otherwise silent. When I was left in just my undersuit, I motioned for her to follow me to a separate room.

Its furnishings were simple and consisted of little other than a bed and a wardrobe for her suit. I sat on the bed and motioned for her to do the same. "You know," I began. "You can still back out of this. It's not too late yet, but once I inject you, there's no going back."

She scoffed. "If I don't go through with this, you're going to put me back in that cell. I'm not going back there. Not for anything."

I nodded, then picked up a syringe lying on the pillow. She held out her arm, and I said, "Fair warning: this is going to hurt" as I shoved the needle into her arm.

Hours later, I lay in bed after finally getting her to fall asleep. The bond was forming- I could feel it- but I wouldn't know if it had worked until she woke up. Things like this could be tricky.

I layed there for a few hours more trying to make sense of things. I still had no idea who this new threat was, but that symbol was still burned into my mind. After wracking my brains to no avail, I decided to go out and clear my head a bit.

My quarters was directly adjacent to an abandoned complex of apartments that I used to train and vent. Guess which one I was doing now.

I was streaming fire from my hands, searing through anything I saw. Bottles exploded, rats fried, and beds burst into flames. I stopped the torrential inferno only to replace it with an equally fierce assault of electricity. I send bolts arcing through the air, crackling and pulsing with energy. Walls exploded as ceilings caved in. I stopped to survey my surroundings. Just as I turned to leave, I felt an immense pain tear through my head, sending me to my knees. Through a disoriented haze, I tried in vain to identify the source of the harsh screeching. Then, I realized that it wasn't coming from around me: It was coming from my head. I stumbled back to my quarters, struggling to stay conscious. I fell into Sonya's room to find her thrashing around. I hauled myself up to her bedside and slapped her as hard as I could.

The screeching stopped and she jerked up, panting heavily. I sighed and slumped down, relieved. 'This is going to be a long night'

* * *

"So, what are we doing today?" She asked, watching me don my suit.

"The first thing on today's agenda is getting you into your new suit. After that, we're going to see what you can do." My helmet closed into place. "Let's go," I said, walking out the door.

The walk to Hephaestus was a quiet one, the silence being broken only by distant screams and the occasional gunshot. Once we arrived, a splicer lead us to a workshop where Big Daddies were getting repaired. Hanging on a wall rack was her new suit.

It was similar in function to the other Big Sister suits with a few key differences. The helmet was less bulky and split down the middle like mine. Where the other sisters had a cage, she had two large eve reservoirs. Her needle was also slightly different, as it could be retracted back into the suit. It gleamed a shiny silver and bore a black sun on the breastplate.

Her eyes widened when she saw it. She slowly ran her hands along the suit before turning to me and asking, "Can I try it on?" excitedly. I nodded my okay and she began to put it on piece by piece. WHen she was done, she turned to me.

"So, how do I look?" She asked.

I chuckled. "Like you're itching for a fight."

She laughed. "Let's do it!" She yelled, starting for the door. I stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"We have a stop to make first." I said, leading her to another section of the workshop. We came upon a table with various straps and harnesses dangling from it. "Lie down." I said. "I have a surprise for you."

She nervously sat. A splicer came up to her and injected her with an anesthetic. I nodded to her and she laid down on the table. She was soon asleep, so I gave the go-ahead for the surgery, smiling behind my mask.

When she came to a few hours later, she hesitantly sat up. ."What did they do?" She asked, more than a little fear in her voice.

I chuckled. "Take off your mask and see."

She disengaged the clasp and her mask split, revealing her face. She looked confused. "I don't understand," she said. "What did-" Her eyes grew wide and disbelieving. "I can talk!" SHe started laughing and jumped at me, hugging me fiercely. "Ohthankyouthankyouthankyou!" She said in a hurry. She suddenly stopped and pulled back, looking at me quizzically. "You know, you never did tell me your name."

I just laughed. **_"Anthony."_** I said. **_"My name is Anthony."_**

**AN: Potential love interest, anyone? Or possibly *SPOILERS4DAYZ* someone from his past? *SPOILERSCLEER* Due to time constraints, the meathooks were put in the next chapter. Until then, ciao.**

**-IzB**


	6. Apology (I'm not dead!)

After almost a year away, I feel that some apologies are in order. I'm not going to make excuses, and I'm not going to bore you with my life. Suffice to say, everything's much better now.

Speaking of being better now, you may notice a small [[currently under reconstruction]] in the story's description. As of now, I'm about halfway through revamping the story. I decided that it needed a complete overhaul, so that's what I'm doing. To give you a sneak peek at exactly how I'm doing that, I'd like to call your attention to the bland (excruciatingly poorly thought out) fight scene where our BB kills a sister. Here's (part of) the revamped version.

Across the room, perched on a desk, was the rogue sister. Without moving, I unclasped my hands and held my right one out towards the door. The splicers left hurriedly, casting worried glances at me over their shoulders. As the last one fled the room, my gaze once again fell upon the sister. For a long moment, the only sound I could hear was the faint dripping of a leak in the building's glass. Then, My porthole flared a blood red and the sister lunged. I dodged to the left, twisting to avoid her needle. She landed gracefully and slashed at me again. I stepped back farther, leading her towards me. With each successive slash, she was lured closer and closer until, finally, her leg rested in a pool of water. This time I grabbed her arm, halting the needle in its path to my chest. I released a sharp jolt of electricity, a harsh blue glow enveloping her form. I kicked her in the stomach, throwing her backwards. I approached her twitching form cautiously. She suddenly lunged, her needle piercing through my suit and shredding through my thigh. I yelled and unleashed a stream of lightning aimed straight for her heart. She screamed, convulsing wildly in the floor. I stopped long enough to pull my leg off the needle before I grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air. I was slammed into the wall by a desk that she had pulled towards me. I fell to my knees, ears ringing. I clenched my hand into a fist, building up energy. When she lunged at me a second time, I released a huge fireball that blasted her backwards and left her suit burned in several places. I stood shakily and walked toward her. I looked down at her damaged body, chuckling to myself. I extended my needle and shoved it through her stomach, straight through the ADAM slug that lived inside her. Her body jerked up, curling around the needle buried in her. I started draining her ADAM, my suit piping it to a small canister on my back. Her struggles steadily got weaker and weaker as her body ran out of the precious fuel that had kept her alive for the past ten years. When she finally lay dead at my feet, I pulled a small metal plate from the back of her gloved hand. Engraved on it was a small symbol. Sister Zeta. The defects are moving up the food chain. Hoisting her corpse over my shoulder, I teleported back to Persephone.

So as you can see, there are definite improvements. There is one small problem, though: I badly need a beta reader. Not really to correct anything (I try to do that on my own), but mainly just to fix the plot.

The story will be updated on Thursdays, starting next week. I already have a good portion of it done, so don't worry about this promise falling through: I'm all responsible and stuff now. Check back regularly, and I would _highly_ suggest rereading the revamped chapters. Otherwise, you're going to be confused as hell.


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